Automotive vehicles such as trucks often have open beds for storing and transporting equipment. The open beds are convenient since they allow quick loading and unloading of the vehicles, but the items within are completely exposed, leaving them vulnerable to theft and damage from the elements. In addition, there is a risk that the items can fall or fly out of the bed when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds down a highway.
Certain vehicles, such as pick-up trucks, have upwardly opening beds that are relatively easy to cover with simple horizontally extending tarps that can be tied down with ropes or bungee cords. Other vehicles, such as certain types of fire trucks, have rearwardly opening beds. These beds are sometimes covered by vertically hanging tarps or by powered aluminum doors that either roll up or pivot outwardly. The non-powered tarps can be slow to open and close, making them less than ideal in emergency situations, while the powered doors are relatively expensive and vulnerable to electrical and mechanical failures. These and other problems are addressed by this disclosure as summarized below.